By NIKOLE JAVIER
La Salle’s Kevin Quiambao emerged frontrunner in the Most Valuable Player award after the first round of the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball tournament.
The race for the individual honor saw the La Salle big man finish with 84.714 statistical points, which was a decent gap between him and reigning MVP Malick Diouf of the University of the Philippines, who managed 78.144 SPs at the end of the first round.
The 6-foot-7, Season 85 Rookie of the Year produced an all-around brilliance of 16.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.86 blocks and made the most three-pointers this season along with UP’s CJ Cansino, norming 2.71 a game.
The 6-foot-7, Season 85 Rookie of the Year produced an all-around brilliance of 16.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.86 blocks and made the most three-pointers this season along with UP’s CJ Cansino, norming 2.71 a game.
Quiambao also ranked second in scoring — behind University of Santo Tomas’ Nic Cabañero, who played the most minutes in the first round — managed fourth in rebounds and fifth in assists to propel himself to the top of the MVP race.
With his heroics that brought the Green Archers to a 4-3 record in the first part of the tournament, Quiambao is on track to become the first local UAAP MVP since former Blue Eagles Kiefer Ravena in 2014 and 2015.
Since then, foreign student-athletes have been dominating the field for the individual recognition starting with La Salle’s Ben Mbala (2016-17), UP’s Bright Akhuetie (2018), UST’s Soulémane Chabi-Yo (2019), Ateneo’s Ange Kouame (2021) and the graduating Diouf.
In La Salle’s seventh game of the season against University of the East last weekend, Quiambao delivered the goods and was one rebound shy of a triple-double finish.
While Quiambao led all players in statistical points, another Green Archer in Evan Nelle sneaked into the individual race with 74.167 SPs to settle in third despite missing one game due to quad contusion.
UE’s Rey Remogat came in close fourth with 73.714 SPs followed by Far Eastern University’s L-Jay Gonzales (66.429), National University’s Kean Baclaan (64.571), Ateneo’s Kai Ballungay (64.286), UST’s Cabañero (63.857), UE’s Precious Momowei (62.143) and UP’s JD Cagulangan (60.429).
